Using stationary exercise machines such as treadmills, stationary bicycles, elliptical trainers, and stair masters is an extremely popular form of cardio vascular exercise. Millions of these types of exercise machines can be found in commercial health clubs, hotel gyms, businesses and homes throughout the world.
For best results, users of these types of exercise machines typically use the machines 30 to 60 minutes at a time (this is the time necessary for the human body to benefit from exercise) several days a week.
Because the exercise machines are typically located indoors, using the machines for 30 to 60 minutes at a time can become somewhat boring without other forms of distraction to “pass the time”. Indeed, many exercise machine users will attempt to read magazines or books while using the machines. For this reason, many exercise machines are designed to include magazine racks that hold the exerciser's magazine or book in front of them so that they can read it while they work out. However, some exercises such as jogging on a treadmill entail excessive body movement that makes it difficult to read small text on a page of a book or magazine.
Watching video is an easier form of distraction while using stationary exercise machines because the images are much larger and do not require the user to read small text. For this reason, many commercial health clubs are equipped with television monitors that the exercisers can watch during their work out. These television monitors are often hung on the wall or from the ceiling in front of the exercise machine so that the users can view them. Home exercisers may position the stationary exercise machine in front of their personal television set so that they too can watch television while they exercise. In addition, more expensive exercise machines have television monitors built into or attached to the machine's control console allowing the user to view their own personal television while they exercise.
However, watching television monitors while using an exercise machine at a health club requires the user to watch whatever programming happens to be on the television monitor at the time of the exercise. In many cases the users do not have control of the television programming and therefore may not enjoy the programming that is presented to them.
If the exerciser does have control of the television set, as is the case for home users, they are still limited to watching whatever shows are available at the time of their workout. In many cases, the time of their workout may not coincide with television programming that they enjoy and they therefore do not get the benefit of the distraction.
Also, exercisers do not typically begin and end their workout on the same schedule as television programming. That is, most television shows begin at the top of the hour or possibly at thirty minutes past the top of the hour. It may not be convenient for the exerciser to begin their workout at the same time a particular television show begins, and therefore they may miss the beginning of the show. In addition, if an exerciser is watching an hour-long show, and their workout ends before the hour is over, they will miss the ending of the show. Unless they have some type of recording device, it will be difficult for them to find the same show again in order to watch the ending.
It would therefore be desirable for the exerciser to have the ability to choose the video they desired, control the time the video starts and have the ability to view it over several workout sessions. One solution to this would be for the exerciser to subscribe to a cable or satellite entertainment provider such as Comcast or DirecTV that provides a multitude of channels as well as movies on-demand. The exerciser could also purchase a digital video recorder (DVR) to be able to save the video that they purchased in order to be able to view it over several workout sessions. However, this solution is very expensive with these services costing hundreds of dollars each month with additional charges to purchase movies. In addition, the purchase of the DVR can also be prohibitively expensive and can cost several hundreds of dollars on top of the monthly service. This solution is also not practical for health clubs, as there would need to be one television and one DVR for each exercise machine.
However, with the recent proliferation of broadband Internet access, online video viewing has become extremely popular. In fact, the top three national broadcasting companies—ABC, NBC and CBS—all offer full episodes of many of their popular television shows on the Internet for free the day after they appear on broadcast television. In addition, millions of other videos are also available online ranging from sports highlights, news programming and a wide variety of other topics. These videos are available for free, and are completely on-demand. That is, the consumer can view the videos whenever they choose, can stop and resume whenever it is convenient, and can do this all for the small cost of an Internet connection.
Given the amount of free online video that is available for on-demand consumption, it would therefore be desirable for the exerciser to be able to view the display of their Internet enabled personal computer or laptop computer while they are using a stationary exercise machine. This way they could watch any online video of their choice at any time they choose using their Internet enabled computer. However, because exercise machines do not have a rack or shelf to hold an Internet enabled computer, the exerciser would need to position the exercise machine such that the display of the personal computer or the laptop is within their view. This may be impractical due to the height and weight of the exercise machine, and there may be no convenient stand or such to hold the computer in the proper position and at the proper height in order to be viewed.
In addition, the user of the exercise machine may also be interested in utilizing other functionality of the Internet and of the computer itself while they use the stationary exercise machine. For instance, they may wish to check their email on their computer while they exercise. In addition, they could view other content in the computer's memory such as documents or videos. They could also listen to music they have stored on the computer, or view content such as movies or other video utilizing the computer's CD or DVD drive. However, this would require that the computer be in very close proximity to the exerciser while they exercise in order to allow the exerciser to engage with the computer's keyboard and mouse. This scenario runs into the same problems as stated above in that there may be no convenient stand or such to hold the computer in the proper position, at the proper height and in close enough proximity for the user to engage with the computer's keyboard and mouse while they use the exercise machine.
Up to this time there has been no system or method to offer a shelf that is either part of the stationary exercise machine or that can be attached to the exercise machine that would hold a computer to allow the exerciser to view online content, check email, view content held in memory within the computer or utilize other functions of the computer while they exercise. Consequently, there has also been no system or method for generating revenue that would benefit from a shelf that is either part of the stationary exercise machine or that can be attached to the exercise machine that would hold a computer, such as a laptop, or a computer monitor to allow the exerciser to view online content, check email, view content held in memory within the computer or utilize other functions of the computer while they exercise.